Our “schedule” and chore chart

I just wanted to add to Christena’s post about scheduling for summer. This is what we have posted at our house.

It’s a loose schedule. The only thing enforced to the letter each day is the chore time and reading time. It’s fun to do things like writing time too. We all wrote a short story about a random thing yesterday. My story was called, “Murphey the Pretzel”. 

We also have the rules, especially for summer. 

And here is also a picture of our chore chart and some of the chores that we rotate though. 

Just a magnetic dry erase board and magnets on the little papers. I "laminated" them with packing tape or you could use card stock or really laminate them. :)

The kids can earn bonuses (electronic time, special treats, etc) if they willingly do an extra chore. The extra chores also become consequences for disobeying or just being stinkers. We also have colored popsicle sticks with assorted “bad” chores on them for super consequences, as well as exercise sticks, silly sticks, prize sticks, etc. We don’t use them very often like we should though.

Just wanted to contribute a little to this fun blog. I need some more ideas!

Kids Summer Schedules

We haven't been good about actually doing it yet but the kids all have summer schedules so they can have a balance between random playing, boredom and education.  Here is one:

7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.	Devotional Breakfast Get Dressed Read Scriptures Brush Teeth
9:00 a.m. – noon	Chores -Make bed, dust, pick up clutter, vacuum Help mom with a chore -Mom’s choice Practice piano
noon – 2:30 p.m.	Lunch School time -Read 30 min -Handwriting -Math -Science/cooking
2:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.	Free Time -Go outside, play basketball, soccer, catch, etc -Read

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.	Clean up -Straighten bedroom and living room
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.	Dinner Kitchen clean up Conference Story Brush and floss Bed

Cool website

I have been trying to do schooling with my kids at home.  Tanner likes doing other things at home which is nice because kindergarten right now is just reviewing things for him.  I'm not really great at it but I found a website that I like.  You can print out the things that are applicable to your kids rather than buying a whole book and not liking half of it.  Anyway it is http://www.kidslearningstation.com/
When I do think about or decide to do school time with my kids it has something for all of them which I like because them I'm not searching forever!

Go Outside!

Brennen is still pretty little but now that he can walk and it's nice outside I make a point to go out every day. I think even in winter if you bundle the kids up it's great for them to be outside and I know my little boy just LOVES it. During the hot months this summer I've waited until after dinner when it's a little cooler and since Dad works late it's usually just Brennen and I and we go for a walk and then play at the playground. Sometimes I'll invite another mom friend to go with me and it's a good opportunity for me to get some adult interaction! :) There are a lot of nice parks here and the big ones have jogging paths so I'll even jog sometimes and then let Brennen run around. There's also a nice bike path down by the river and I love to go there. We also go camping, fishing, hiking, and picnicking in the mountains as a family. I know I only have one child but I taught school before I had him and it seems to me that kids are just happier when they're not cooped up inside all day.

I was going to post some pictures of us outside but there were just way too many to choose from so I'll just post this one of Brennen trying to escape from the stroller on one of our walks.





Sometimes not a lot

I have recently returned to stay-at-home mommyhood! Hooray! I love it! Today Ashton and I just hung around the house and played a little playdoh and read a few books and I watched him play with legos and took his picture. Some times those days are the ones we cherish most. So for my first contribution to this blog that's what I've done. Here are some pictures of the little man concentrating his heart out on building his legos!

Bounce!!

We had a lot of fun at Bounce yesterday.  It is a place with a bunch of blow up bounce toys.  It’s a lot of fun and the kids really enjoy it!  Most of the pictures can be found on my other blog:  http://crazymomsarethebest.blogspot.com

Here are a couple that are a little blurry but you get the picture.

Discovery Center of Idaho

Friday we took the kids to the Discovery Center of Idaho.  There were TONS of exhibits and it was all hands on stuff.  The kids really enjoyed it.  I think they will like it more when they can do the things themselves rather than having mommy and daddy do it for them, but it was a good time out with the kids having fun with each other.  Of course like a dork, I forgot my camera, but next time hopefully I’ll remember.